About the Old Girl

She was born in the summer of '69 in Ontario, Canada; titled in '70 in Maine, USA. She shares some traits of both a '69 and a '70.

My uncle is the first owner; after 35 years of pining for it I talked him out of it.

She is mostly stock; what little add-ons are mainly because I haven't found a true stock replacement. These are all interim solutions until she gets a true frame off restoration. Of course I'll document that all here. She's had a face-lift about 2004-05; lots of rust was removed and a big portion of the body replaced. Maine winters can be pretty harsh on steel.

Key bits of info:
- Engine - Buick V-6 225 cubic inch
- Transmission - Dana T-14, 3 speed
- Transfer Case - Spicer T-18
- Front Differential - Dana 27, 3.73 ratio
- Rear Differential - Dana 44, 3.73 ratio
- Wheels - 15 inch
- Winch - front mounted Ramsey MX-2000 PTO (dealer installed)
- Top - Meyer Steel top (dealer installed)
- Color - Omaha Orange

This blog is a record of what we do together and of course what I do to her to keep her in good shape...

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

The girl goes topless

I've been trying to find the best means of removing the Meyer top all winter. I was resigned to needing a frame and winch (which I'd have to create) and renting a storage unit to keep the top in. Then one day I had an epiphany...what if I simply disassemble the top and store each piece inside my storage shed?


The weather finally broke (16 days straight of rain) so I was able to rearrange all the yard tools in my shed. I got rid of all the duplicates (who needs three shovels; how did I even get three shovels?) as well as some stuff I didn't know I had, which is another way of saying it's outta here!

By the time I was done I had a place where all the bits of the Meyer top would fit. Now I just needed to get the courage up to start removing it.


Sunday the weather was nice so I started removing bolts. 16 on the top, another 6 across the windshield, and another 8 along the base. Before I removed those, I took the doors off, including the rear lift door and its hardware.
Turns out the top piece is not as heavy as I had thought; while the whole top is about 350 pounds, the doors are the heaviest. The top was quite light but bulky. I had a neighbor give me a hand lifting it off, flipping it upside down and then getting it into the shed. The rest I easily did.

Thanks for looking...